Few discoveries have had as much impact on our perception of human
thought as Gödel’s proof in 1930 that any logical system such as usual
rules of arithmetic, must be inevitably incomplete, i.e., must contain
statements which are true but can never be proved. Professor Uspensky’s
makes both a precise statement and also a proof of Gödel’s startling
theorem understandable to someone without any advanced mathematical
training, such as college students or even ambitious high school
student. Also, Uspensky introduces a new method of proving the theorem,
based on the theory of algorithms which is taking on increasing
importance in modern mathematics because of its connection with
computers. This book is recommended for students of mathematics,
computer science, and philosophy and for scientific layman interested in
logical problems of deductive thought.